The Shadows Online!
by Assassin5144
Summary: This is a recreation of Sword Art Online based in America, an older male protagonist, more of a sexual input to it later in the series ( Which will all be in short stories all put together because i have limited time ). This one will involve the main character buying the game, getting started then leaving you, the lucky reader, on a cliffhanger hoping for more. "Hopefully"
1. A New World

**This story is a recreation of the anime and manga Sword Art Online with a different twist. I hope you enjoy :)**

 **So it all begins December 22nd, 2043 In Atlanta, Georgia with a young boy only 16 years old named Mark. "3... 2... 1...," The intercom sounds before opening main doors to a giant mall in front of Mark. The crowd rushes inside and people start running towards clothing stores, furniture stores, electronic stores, everywhere you can imagine, and Mark walks toward the new release of The Shadows Online! Followed by many other kids his age. "I cant wait to get away from this," Mark says in his head to himself," This world is pure shit!" Mark continues walking to the release and gets stopped by Ryan as he says ," Where are you going Marky Boy?" "Can you please not do this today man?" Asks Mark to Ryan. "Look Mark... I'm needing some money to buy new shoes so whatchu got on ya man?" Ryan smirks to Mark questionably ," I don't have any money. I just wanted to come to this to see everyone fighting over things, its entertaining," Mark tells Ryan. Mark begins to slowly walk by Ryan as Ryan grabs Marks shoulder forcing him to look at him one more time ," You're going to get that new game aren't you?! You know what happened last time they tried that right? Everyone got trapped. With your luck it might happen again," Ryan smirks at Mark. "If it does it wont be that bad, at least in that world i wont have to deal with people like you," Mark remarks at Ryan. Mark then walks through Ryan and directly to buy the game hes been waiting for for so long. "How much for the Shadows Online?" Mark asks the clerk at the game store," Oh its $74.99, You want it? We only have four more copies?" the Clerk responds. "Yeah," Mark answers. As Mark pays for the game and heads back home he thinks to himself," Why cant there just be a place where people like him don't exist, everyday i have to deal with him taking my money, beating up on me, ruining everything for me... I just want to be able to get away." Mark gets home and goes downstairs to his room and gets ready to set up the game and boot up everything when his sister comes in the room asking him questions. "Hey bro, whatchu up to?" "Oh not really that much, just about to get into the new game that just came out today, i really cant wait cause maybe in this world ill be able to defend myself" Mark Responds to his sister Juli. "Alright then, but whenever you want food ill be in my room cause mom wanted us to eat together." Juli retorts. "Alright Juls... Talk to you later" Mark waves goodbye. As Mark boots up the game into the prelaunch he is instructed to say his height and weight, followed by skin color. " 6'0, 155lbs, and white {Thinks to himself[AS F-K]}" Mark responds. As Mark lies down on his bed to begin his journey through the shadows he begins to wonder about SAO and how it really happened," It doesn't seem possible again, but. but i... i kinda want to be stuck in that kind of world" The game begins to start and Mark is taken into the shadows.**

 **Mark is prompted to decide upon a name for The Shadows Online that will be shown to everyone else and he will go by. "Hmmmmm?" Mark says wonderingly," How about..." Mark begins to type into the console the letters K-I-R-I," WAIT! That's gotta be taken." Mark stops himself. "How about," Mark begins typing into the console for a second time L-I-G-H-T "Accepted." A voice says loudly as he hits enter. The Shadows Online! is in big bold letters as the game loads and Mark is able to move around in a dark space freely with no boundaries," Well this is pretty fun, i wonder how far i can run?" Mark begins to run straight in one direction and does not stop, he yells out "Yeeeeeeessssss!" in freedom and continues running until he is taken to the beginning town with every other player starting the game for the first time. As he loads into the town he sees other players loading in and notices the names of some of his friends, and some of the bullies he know play online games and use their real names. "No one has to know its me... this is a new world, a new life. just for me, where i can be something different." Mark tells himself in relief. As Mark loads completely into the first city he is wondered by everything around him, all the stores, people, buildings, this one huge clock in the middle of town, a giant tower in the distance, all this stuff and so few people. "Maybe more people will show up as the game gets more people to buy it and more people load in."Mark tells himself assuredly. As Mark walks around town exploring through a few stores and checking out the menus and familiarizing himself with things he decides to go out and leave the city to see how combat is, or so he thinks...**

 **Part ii will be out as soon as possible :) Hope you enjoyed this part!**


	2. Why?

_The Shadows Online! Part ii_

We left off with Mark checking out stores and every place he could find but then he decides he wants to go out into the world to find something to fight to see how combat is in the shadows but then something happens. Rumbling begins to shake the ground beneath Mark and other players around him as he heads to the exit for the town but cannot leave because of a force field stopping him from leaving the town," What the hell is going on?!" Mark says out loud along with many other players around him. The ground continues to shake and then Mark and every other player begins to be pulled by some unknown force to the center of the town. "No-No-No-No! Stop, Let. Me. Go!" Mark yells and screams as he is dragged to the other players. Once he and all of the other players are in the middle of the town close to the giant clock that Mark had scene earlier fog begins to surround everyone and a voice begins talking," Hello everyone, sorry for the fright but i do have some things to tell you." "What the fuck is going on?!" Mark thinks to himself. The fog gets thicker making it impossible to see even one inch in front of Mark then the voice continues speaking," I might as well start by saying my name, I am Koujiro Rinko and i worked closely with the man you all know as the creator of Sword Art Online, Akihiko Kayaba" The entire crowd begins to panic and run in fear in different directions but is immediately pulled back to the center of the town.

"Of course this would happen to me, its not really too bad i guess, im not leaving too much behind." Mark says to himself as he thinks back to the times he was bullied for wearing the wrong color shirt, or didn't have a low enough voice, every time he didn't make a good grade on a test, every time he was hit and beat by bullies for no reason at all, every time he was called names, every time his parents left on business and didn't say a word to him, every time he would say 'I love you mom, I love you dad' and wouldn't hear it in return, he thought about all of that as it doesn't seem so bad to be here where he can grow to be strong, maybe the strongest. Koujiro begins to speak again," I wont do as Kayaba did and give you that stupid mirror to have you all have your own faces and bodies, you came here to get away from your lives as i learned from so many SAO survivors i spoke to. some wish it didn't end, actually most of them wanted to be stuck there forever. But it was beaten, far too soon, this time it will be different." The crowd stops and starts paying complete attention to Koujiro as she speaks more. "This world will be hard and as it was in SAO if you die here you die in the real world. There are 11,316 of you here right now, oh... make that 11,315 of you then, someones family just tried removing their gear causing their deaths. I warned them all." Mark looks down and thinks to himself," Ill be fine, my sister wont unplug my gear and i will stay here and be as strong as i can be."

Koujiro Begins to speak again," I have access to all of your minds, some of you are telling yourselves i'm lying, some of you are weak and freaking out, and others are okay with it, this world is better anyways. Since i'm about done here i do have a gift for all of you. Check your gift box please." Every player begins to look at their gift box including Mark as they notice an item called "Your Choice" and everyone questions it as the text below it reads 'If you choose to leave now you can... You will leave this world but will not go back to your real one, your life will be over but you will not be forced to live in this one' and then Koujiro begins to speak," If you use this choice you will die, but you will not be forced to live in this world... but if you stay then you will live a life of your choosing, away from the real world." "I want to stay. i never wanna go back to that hell hole people call life" Mark says to himself under his breath. Koujiro looks around at everyone knowing their choices before they even say anything. "Some of you have already made your choice and yet some of you have already decided to use the item sadly ending your life... I had preferred all of you stay in this world with the rest of us," Koujiro says to all the players regrettably after waiting for time to pass as all the players that want to use the item do," There are now 9,678 players left in this world making it so that sadly 1,638 of your fellow players have used the item before it was removed from all of the players inventories.

Now before i go i have one more gift for you all, 15,000 Terras so you may be able to buy a few items to better your chances in this world at the start, it goes fast so use it wisely players. Have fun, and don't die too soon." The fog and Koujiro disappear into nothingness and panic ensues over most of the players and Mark decides to leave to hunt at this time before others do the same," Alright, lets try leaving this town just one more time, i need to find some good spot to farm and get me everything that i need if i'm going to survive in this world." Mark says to himself as he leaves the town and goes out to the fields of shadows and begins to kill anything and everything he can find. Maybe Mark will become as strong as he hopes someday.

Hope you all enjoyed this part as well :) Ill be working on the next part as much as i can.

For the one that said i forgot to unbold it... i didnt.


	3. An Opportunity

_**The Shadows Online! Part iii**_

We start again right after Mark has been out and about leveling up as high as he can killing wolves, ghouls, giants, slimes, hogs, yukitarras, and many other things and now had seven levels to use. "Lets go with," Mark says to himself while thinking hard," Three points to health, two to my speed, and two to attack." Leveled Up is in big bold letters in front of Mark after hitting the 'ACCEPT' button in front of him. "It has been a long day, maybe i should find somewhere to rest for the night..." Mark tells himself then heads into the town and searches for an inn to stay at tonight before heading deeper into the shadows to fight again tomorrow to gain even higher levels, get more money, and maybe find the boss for this area of the game. "Ahhh, here we go," Mark says as he stands outside of 'The Lofty Axeman'. Mark pays for his night and goes up to his room to sleep but before he gets into his room he is met by two young women outside of his room," Well hey there hun," The first lady says while smirking ,"You've been working real hard today haven't you?" The second lady says while twisting from left to right spinning her skirt. "Yeah and i was just about to head to sleep cause its been long and hard," Mark tells the two women. "I know that's not the only thing that's been long and hard today," The second lady says then sucks on her finger seductively. "I'm uh... I'm real tired and i just wa-" Mark says before getting interrupted by the first lady putting her finger over his mouth and saying," We will do all the work for you seeing is that you're pretty cute and are working hard."

Mark is caught off guard by this and doesn't know what to do," Look i really need to sleep and i don't really need anything else today, so if i could go to my room it would be nice to maybe see you two women later." "Aweee well that's too bad honey," The second lady says then pulls on the first lady's arm," Come on Cassie, lets go before we ruin this mans night." They both walk away leaving Mark to go into his room and go to sleep for the night. "Seriously," Mark says i his head and face palms while laughing,"This is what happens the first day i'm in a virtual world." Mark goes into his room and turns off the light before getting under the covers and heading to sleep. "Maybe i should've taken them up on that," Mark thinks to himself laying in bed before drifting off to sleep," Too late now i guess." Mark goes to sleep and wakes up the next morning at 4:45 Am to get started on another long and hard day. "Damn i'm hungry," Mark says as his stomach growls. Mark walks out of his room and down to the main room in the inn and sits down at the nearest table so he can order food and get his day started," Hello sir. What would like to have today?" The AI working the inn asks Mark as he sits down. "How about some eggs, ham, and maybe some water please?" Mark responds without hardly thinking," That'll be right up sir. Hope you enjoy it." The AI responds then the scrambled eggs, honey baked ham, and water all appear directly before Mark as he then devoures it all seemingly breathing it all in. Mark finishes his food and leaves to begin his day,"Maybe ill get more items today, or a new quest, maybe something else. How knows." Mark says as he leaves out for yet another day in the shadows.


	4. The Shadow Bride

_**The Shadows Online! Part iv**_

After Mark leaves for his second day in the shadows he is met by two strangers, one a tall and buff man, the other a frail but tall woman. They seemed to have been through a lot but something was odd about them, they had no cursers. "Umm... H-Hello, mister? Miss? Are you two alright? Anything i can do to help?" Mark asks from a distance. The two of them look directly at Mark and disappear into the shadows. "What the hell was tha-" Mark is interrupted while speaking with an update to his quest log, 'The Disappearing Act' is the name of the quest he just picked up, it says for the description, 'Find the couples tomb. Free them from their torture. Make them at peace. And you will be rewarded with the stash of the damned.' "Stash of the damned huh?" Mark says while grabbing his chin," Sounds interesting, might as well try for this one today." Mark goes into the town he first started at where most of the players still are and starts to look around and talk to information desks, players, stores, AI's, everyone trying to find out where these two even came from. Where their tombs might be until he stumbles upon a stone in the ground that he trips over reading on it 'The damned lie in the east'. "Maybe this means the town to the east with the ghouls surrounding it?" Mark says regarding the stones engraving," Might as well check it out, not like it can hurt.

" Mark heads out to the other town fighting his way their through several wolfs and a few ghouls then finally gets to the front of the town and realizes why no one enters it, there are hundred of ghouls right in front of him somehow not noticing him standing at the entrance dumbfounded and frozen. Mark shifts over behind a wall so nothing can see him," Why in the hell didn't i buy a new sword today?! I have the money, and new armor?! WHYYYY?" Mark tells himself. Mark decides to go ahead and look again but when he does he is met by the face of a ghoul, it is inches from his growling and when it sees him the ghoul tilts its head back and howls, then every ghoul hears it, turns their heads to Mark and he runs away in fear of his life." Holy shiiiiiiit!" The ghouls chase Mark out of the town and stop once he is gone, they then go back to the town they were in and wait seemingly for another player trying to find the damned loot. "There has got to be a way i can get by them without just buying new gear then coming back the next day to kill them all?" Mark tells himself hoping for the best. Mark looks around him seeing mountains, the shadow fields, and so many other places and then just stops looking," Im an idiot..." Mark face palms as he looks at a sign that reads 'Danger! false damned ahead' "That must mean that town is just meant to kill players and cause fear... I'm so stupid." As he deals with getting turned around he sees the couple again, But this time further away. "Hey! Im trying to help you!" Mark yells out to them. "All i need is to know where you were buried" Mark then is knocked to his feet and the frail woman rushes to his face and whispers in his ear in a rough and yet sweet voice like something an older woman would have and says," We are buried under the bride that covers the souls." Then both the lady and the taller man disappear into the shadows.

"What in the hell could that mean... Buried under the bride, that covers the souls?" Mark says to himself as he looks down in wonder. He then walks back to the main town to find more information about this bride and is told by merchant that he must go to the cemetery deep in the shadows and find the grave of the murdered mother named Grizelda so he runs as fast as he can to find this grave before the night sets, But the night roles in before he even makes his way to the cemetery trapping him outside of any town to fight for his life until daybreak.


End file.
